Faced with a strict edict to embrace austerity, China's officials have had to resort to ever more creative ways to lead the high life.

Xi Jinping, China's news president, has repeatedly warned that the graft and gluttony of the country's free-spending officials could bring down the Communist party.

But trying to stop a Chinese civil servant or army boss from living like a prince on public money seems at times to be as difficult as nailing jelly to a tree.

On Wednesday, the front page of the People's Daily, the official Party organ, lamented a new trend of "secret sumptuousness".

"Instead of going out to high-end restaurants, [officials] are now eating in private clubs," it said. "We constantly hear reports that officials are going to secret saunas disguised as farmhouses, disguising their Maotai (one of China's most expensive tipples) in mineral water bottles, and hiding Panda cigarettes (which cost up to £70 a pack) in Red Pagoda packets (£1)".

The People's Daily concluded: "Is this deep-rooted habit of dining out on public funds so hard to change?" Less than two weeks ago, Mr Xi told the Politburo that some Chinese officials are now "abusing power and becoming morally degenerate" and that everybody should "look into a mirror, straighten their clothes, take a bath and cure their disease".

According to Xinhua, the official news agency, a year-long campaign will again try to stamp out bad behaviour.

Sales of expensive liquor, Swiss wristwatches and Louis Vuitton handbags have all dipped recently. But in the past few weeks, there has been plenty of evidence to suggest Chinese officials are not, in fact, living like monks.

In the northern city of Harbin, one street has been renamed "Corruption Alley" because of its cluster of opulent restaurants. Outside, journalists discovered that many of the cars had masked their license plates to hide their government registrations.

In the city of Datong, meanwhile, top-end restaurants said that while business was down, they were now offering to deliver banquets, including chefs and waiters, to private homes.

At the site of a 7 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan last month, the tan lines of the local party chief gave away the fact he had removed his expensive watch before being photographed at the scene of the disaster.

And in the central city of Taizhou, an official who was caught by a mob of protesters dining on puffer fish and swigging cases of expensive wine was forced to kneel and apologise.

Yuan Yulai, a lawyer who specialises in prosecuting corrupt officials, admitted that there was little hope for the system to really change. "If you look at the official in Taizhou, he was sacked from his job. But then, days later, he was found to have another, even higher, position," he said.

"The only way to really solve the problem is to give people the right to vote for leaders they can trust and the power to monitor them and complain."